The treatment of vascular diseases has grown exponentially in terms of sophistication and diversity. In particular, coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) surgery has become routine in most cardio-thoracic practices. Its popularity is due, in part, to its tremendous success rate and its ability to offer extraordinary benefits to a patient.
CABG surgery restores blood flow to heart tissue that has been deprived of blood because of coronary artery disease. During bypass surgery, a new graft vessel, which will subsequently carry oxygenated blood around the blockage in a coronary artery, is surgically removed from another location in the body. The harvested graft vessel is a healthy artery or vein taken from the leg, arm, or chest. The vessel is then transferred to the outside of the heart. Concisely stated: the graft vessel supplies oxygenated blood to the part of the heart that needs it.
CABG procedures substantially improve problematic conditions/symptoms in more than 90% of patients who undergo the treatment. The procedure also helps to prolong lives for people having either left main coronary disease or blockages in several of the major vessels (especially in cases where the pumping action of the heart is also being reduced or restricted).
One issue associated with any bypass operation relates to flexibility. An attending physician must often complete a number of sophisticated tasks during a given procedure. Therefore, optimizing or simplifying any of these steps may yield a significant reduction in work for a surgeon. In addition, there is a significant amount of estimating or guesswork that normally transpires during a given bypass operation. For example, approximations may be made for cutting a hole in the aortic wall. Once a vein is harvested for a bypass procedure, a physician can only guess as to its size. This may result in making holes in the aortic wall that are simply incorrect. Moreover, many bypass instruments are cumbersome, difficult to manipulate, potentially harmful to patients, and clumsy or awkward in many situations. Their deficiencies create a significant burden on the physician, who is already being taxed by a number of arduous tasks. In addition, many current devices are unacceptable because they violate the interior of the aorta, which (in turn) can cause trauma and inflammation issues.
Accordingly, the ability to provide an effective medical instrument that properly accounts for the aforementioned problems presents a significant challenge for component manufactures, system designers, and physicians alike.